Day 308: Philippians 3:2–11

A Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, persecuting the church; as to the righteousness that is in the law, blameless (vv. 5–6).

Saul himself was a Pharisee and probably returned from Jerusalem to Tarsus to serve as a teacher of the law. Imagine how his thinking was influenced by his contemporaries. I believe Saul had set sail to Jerusalem as a young adolescent with a pure heart; but somewhere along the way the negative influences outweighed the positive, and his purity began to erode. The law became his god. That’s what happens when you take the love out of obedience. The result is the law. Without love for God and His Word, we’re just trying to be good. Nothing will wear you out faster.

Have you been there? I have! Trying to obey God and serve Him before we’ve come to love Him can be exhausting.

Recently a friend shared a term that helps to explain what happened to the once-noble ranks of the Pharisees. The term is “identity boundaries.” These are the walls we put up to separate our group from other groups. Gangs wear certain colors to show who is in and who is out. Churches and denominations develop distinctive teachings to accomplish the same goal. The first-century Jews became so obsessed with identity boundaries that they forgot their purpose. They argued endlessly about washing hands or observing the Sabbath, but they forgot about loving God.

Saul epitomized such pharisaic obsession. He packed his diploma and headed for a place to serve. Whether he divided his time between teaching and his father’s business is unknown. But one thing you can count on: he was absolutely miserable. How do I know? In Philippians 3:6, he said his zeal was so great that he persecuted the church, and that his legalistic righteousness was “blameless.”

We cannot begin to comprehend what Saul’s life was like as he sought to live by the letter of the law because most of us do not have a Jewish background. Daily rituals determined the first words out of Saul’s mouth in the morning, the way he took off his nightclothes and put on his day clothes, and how he sprinkled his hands before breakfast. He carefully avoided eating or drinking quickly and never ate while standing.

Saul pronounced numerous benedictions throughout the day. His entire day was filled with ritual, and at night he took off his shoes and garments in the prescribed order. He avoided certain sleeping positions and chose others. For the sake of his heart and liver, he probably attempted to begin the night on his left side and end the night on his right. He purposely kept his turning to a minimum. Tossing and turning through the night is misery to us, but to Saul it could have been sin!

These daily rituals paled in comparison to all the laws regarding the Sabbath. Restrictions existed for almost everything. For instance, prior to the Sabbath a Pharisee cut his fingernails and toenails not in consecutive order but alternately. He then burned the nails. He avoided spitting in a place where the wind could scatter the saliva so he would not break laws concerning sowing on the Sabbath.

Do you get the general idea of what Saul’s life was like as he attempted to live by the law “blamelessly”? These examples are just a few of hundreds of man-made laws. I do not cite them in order to ridicule the Jewish people. I share a few of the written traditions with you to point out man’s overwhelming tendency to tax God’s instruction. The Sabbath observance could not have been further from God’s intent by the time Christ “became flesh and took up residence among us” (John 1:14 hcsb). The day of rest was hardly recognizable to the One who ordained it.

Saul was strangled by the letter of the law. He tried desperately to keep all the outward acts of obedience while his heart slowly eroded. Saul gradually became the model for Isaiah 29:13: “These people approach Me with their mouths to honor Me with lip-service, yet their hearts are far from Me, and their worship consists of man-made rules learned by rote” (hcsb). Inevitably, Saul’s faraway heart would turn to faraway actions.

Oh, God, forgive us when we act like modern-day Pharisees. Convict us at the very moment of our departure from the law of love You have written on our hearts. Give us hearts of devotion, not heads full of religion.